Pálowan Peoples
The Pálowan, or simply the Pál, are a relatively diverse ethnic group that inhabit the central and southern regions of Owlia. The Pál do not exist as a unified nation-state; instead, they have criss-crossed the sea east of Landing, known as the Central Sea, and given rise to various different factions including the Grey Brotherhood and Iron Brotherhood, and the independent nations of Nemosā, Urúsahm and Ei̇́sarna. Common physical traits include tall stature, long limbs, strong facial features, steely grey-blue eyes, and jet black hair that contrasts with their moderately-light skin. Males tend to sport thick beards which often turn grey even in early adulthood. However, striking blonde or dark red hair may also be seen in some bloodlines. Pál tribes emerged in pre-history in the relatively safety of the Mushroom Lands or Swombhóudn, at the eastern extreme of the Landing region, where they first developed the crafts of sailing, fishing, smithing and stone working. Beginning around 500 CE, many Pál tribes migrated to the islands of the east, and have since specialised into cattle, sheep, mixed agriculture and forestry. Today, Pál culture has spread to the south and east, across the Central Sea, with its extremes reaching the borders of East Owlia through the settlement of the Iron Keep. Architecture Pál houses are typically simple and strong in nature, built with thick stone walls and often warmed by an interior central fireplace. Smaller houses are typically rounded in shape, showing superficial resemblance to the Eastern Daels of Severia; however, it seems the ancestors of the early Pál were once inhabitants of what is today Clifftown, and thus share a common origin with other ethnic groups of central Owlia. A common sight in the Pálowan world are tall stone monuments known as Enilkōs, a word believed to derive from 'stone man' or 'stone face'. The Enilkōs are abstract in design, usually four-sided columns, often with many indented faces and symmetrical ornamentation. They are built from the most colourful stones, and always built near water. They have served as memorials to the fallen, as the focal point of festivals, as commemorations for great events, and as landmarks and navigation aids. The Enilkōs originally had a great deal of lore and traditions associated with them, but much has been lost over the past century. Writing and Literature Pál literature has its roots in the scribes of the Grey Brotherhood during the early 6th century; though writing in various Pál dialects, the scribes first developed a runic alphabet known as Old Pálish, that is still used for official documents and public signs. As the runic script is somewhat slow and tedious to write, the scribes later learned to write in the standard Landing alphabet as a form of shorthand - a script originating from Clifftown and Skulltown, which had already become centres of literacy at an earlier stage in the region’s history. This hybrid writing system has since spread throughout the Pálowan world, with the Old Pálish script maintaining its prestige value while the Landing script is often used for commerce and everyday life, both scripts encoding the same spoken language. In the south, around the Iron Keep, the language of the Pál has continued to evolve. Contact with the Robed Ones introduced several exotic Wungarian words; while currently, the need to conduct business with East Owlian merchants is introducing Lanternese elements at a steady rate. Both written and spoken languages have diverged from their northern brethren; this branch of the language is now known as South Pálowan or Cheridonian, with an expanded vocabulary and differences in grammar, and this is in turn starting to spread back through the northern Pál-speaking lands. Category:Owlia